Holding my brother's hand

I am blessed to have two younger brother's. We're very (very) close in age (3 kids in 2 and a half years---hats off to my folks who lived through it and are still together 44 years later!) and we're about as different as a summer's day is long from the outside. But inside we are very much alike, in the blood and in our hearts. Even though I act like the youngest, I'm the oldest...and I was probably more like "Lucy" (think Charlie Brown) as a bossy sister than anything else. Sigh.

Regardless of this fact (who'd want a bossy "princess" for a sister?), my brother's loved me, tolerated me, and "obeyed me" (ouch!). (All right, maybe "obeyed me" isn't accurate). It's the "loved me in spite of me" part that prompted my thoughts while I was outside hiking in the woods yesterday. There I was, on a freezing and windy day---where just getting out of the warm car is a challenge (not just due to the fact that I was wearing 20lbs of clothing either!). It's that mental preparation for the blast of cold.

Anyway, Rick (my middle-little brother) sent me a case of biodegradable hand-warmers for a present. Why? Because he knows me. He knows I want to go outside and play. He also knows that I have perpetually cold hands...always. He knows I will whine to my husband about my cold hands---or that I will whine (to my husband) because I am too cold to go outside and play. (He doesn't know that my husband will just ask me if I'd like some cheese with my whine!) Rick has warm hands...always. And if he can't be here to warm my hands....then he'll send the next best thing. Rick also has a warm heart.

I unwrapped my warmers, shook them up and put them in my gloves, then bundled up the small hound and off we went into the wind and crunchy ice. These little warmers are CHAMPS! I walked briskly---the ice making running unsafe in large sections of the trail. I squeezed the little packets and it felt like I was holding a warm hand. My brother's hand. Both of my brother's hands. One on each side of me.

It started snowing and the wind started blowing harder...but it didn't matter. Even though my face was frozen numb and I could barely talk (like when you get a bunch of novicane shot in your mouth!), I had warm hands and a warm hound for company. Perhaps I only acted like a "princess" because I had two "Prince's" for brothers. Ha!